Zina Kocher

World Cup Week 2

2009-12-22T19:35:00.000-08:00

It seems all of a sudden that we are nearing the end of the first set of World Cup competitions. Slowly, we are letting this Wednesday afternoon pass as we prepare for our last 3 competitions in Poklujka, Slovenia. Tomorrow is the 15km Individual, Saturday the 7.5km Sprint and Sunday the 10km Pursuit.

Last week I had a fairly successful World Cup #2 in Hochfilzen, Austria. Friday in the Sprint, I finished 18^th with 1 penalty. There is ALWAYS something that an athlete is dissatisfied with or at least acknowledges the requirement for continued improvement. After my race, I was satisfied with many aspects of the race, and yet deeply frustrated that I had missed my very last shot! If only…

In the Pursuit, I did not have as much success. I shot 1,2,0,2 and finished 21^st. However, on the positive side, I did ski very well. Eventually, I believe the shooting and skiing will coincide!

Sunday was the relay competition and thankfully this week we were able to fill a team. The order was Megan Imrie, myself, Sandra Keith and anchor Megan Tandy. It was not terrible, but it was not a superb day either. We used an excruciatingly large number of spares, living way too close on the edge of having to do the loop of shame. Phew… none of us did. And we finish 13^th. Focus focus focus, for our next chance in Ruhpolding.

Besides our biathlon buzz, we socialized during our long multiple courses of dinner, ordered delicious cappuccinos and macchiatos, finished novels (I was reading The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields), did yoga directed by our MT Tracey, and spent long periods of time on skype… or at least I did! My wonderful parents, along with some fellow Kocher fans from Germany came to this World Cup and definitely helped me cruise up the final hill to the finish with their loud cheering!

Back to my next book… Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat. (perspective… a bad race really is not a big deal!)

WC Week 1

2009-12-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

(Liam and Tom Zidek)

Week 1 is finito!

Today we are travelling from Oestersund, Sweden to Hochfilzen, Austria. Before jumping on the bus to the airport, Megan and I did a quick shopping spree…I needed a few items to complete an outfit and well why not seize another opportunity to shop when in such a great shopping center as Oestersund! Our travel day did not start without some excitement the night before. Robin, the oldest veteran of the team, realized his passport was not in his possession. He had in fact, packed it with his bag and computer and sent it in the van driven by wax techs Rich and Tom, which had departed after the relays Sunday for the long drive to Austria. It must be noted that this was not a first occurrence for our well-travelled veteran. Ah… the idiosyncrasies of us all. And how much fun it is to viciously tease each other!

Last week we began the World Cup circuit with a 15km Individual competition. It did not end majestically for me but instead provided a stepping stone of encouragement for the future competitions. I had an excellent last lap time; however I started so slowly my coaches wondered if I had stopped for an afternoon tea break! I also set up camp in the shooting range and still could not hit the broad side of a barn. I ended up shooting 1,1,2,1 (Prone,Standing,P,S – 5 misses) with a final result of 56^th position. This was not the image I had envisioned! However, my teammate JP, had an fantastic race the following day, shooting 2 misses and finishing 10^th.

Saturday, my 27^th birthday, was the sprint competition. I set out on the course after having heard a “Happy Birthday song” over the loudspeakers, with a committed aggressive attitude, finishing slightly better than Thursday in 34^th place with 1,1. However, I am deeply unsatisfied and am determined to continue to fight for better finishes. Nevertheless, it being my birthday, I couldn’t help but smile at the end of the day with the satisfaction that I was doing something I love to do, and enjoy the evening with my biathlon family – teammates and support staff and a big Swedish princess cake. The day before my birthday I treated myself to some retail therapy and purchased a very fun pair of boots… although I am not a practiced high heel wearer and I feel incredibly tall and unbalanced! I also received a gorgeous rose for a certain special someone. ;)

Sunday was the relay competition. To our misfortune, 2 of our women fell sick (Megan Tandy and Sandra Keith) the day before and we were unable to fill a relay team. Instead, Megan Imrie and I trained, and then quickly fled to the Christmas market embracing Swedish culture and the lure of shopping for a few small Christmas gifts.

Besides, the blissful moments of cruising the Christmas decorated main street and Christmas market, we were continually entertained by our baby teammate, Liam, Anna Carin and Tom Zidek’s 1.5 year old son. His cheering and cute Swedish toque definitely helped mama to the podium in the Individual! We tried to teach him some bad tricks during the week, but instead, his favorite fixation was cheering his sippy cup with us at every meal.

Week 2 begins… in Hochfilzen, Austria this Friday. Do a snow dance… it’s looking very thin and sparse out the window!

2009-11-26T05:25:00.000-08:00

(skiing on the 1A in Lake Louise)

During the end of October and November, we completed the final hard training preparation around the Canmore area. After our Dachstein camp, numerous days were first spent on a roller ski treadmill doing hard interval training. They were difficult, exhausting and exactly what we needed! By the beginning of November we were on snow, skiing on a very short loop at the Nordic Center; as well as, driving out to Lake Louise and Mt. Shark for longer ski sessions. Lake Louise had absolutely beautiful skiing on Moraine Lake road and the 1A as it was full on winter conditions. Rosanna and I spotted a bear 400 m away on the train tracks one day while skiing on the 1A. I guess he wasn’t ready to hibernate just quite yet!

The men’s team, weary of the 1km loop, departed for Silverstar beginning of November and had a wonderful 10-day camp with 60 km of ski trails available. Sounded pretty awesome… but I was happy to sleep in my own bed and enjoy my personal space before flying off to Europe for the start of a long World Cup season!

Last Saturday, I departed for Sweden. Yes, that time has come; it is the start of the racing season! As per usual, my personal assistant seemed to be absent and I had to pack all my equipment (massive ski bag with endless number of skis, few poles, 3 pairs of boots – 2 skate and 1 classic, running shoes, ammunition, a rifle, extra stock, sport drink, protein recovery drink…) and all my ski clothes, casual clothes and shoes, books, flute, yoga mat… and who knows what else… all by myself. Good thing I am a practiced packer. We flew from Calgary to Frankfurt then to Stockholm, and onwards in an eighteen-passenger plane to our final destination – Sveg, a tiny town in the middle of Sweden. However, any snow that may have been there had melted, so Monday morning we drove to an even smaller ski village called Bruksvallarna. There is a little downhill ski resort, a biathlon range, and lots and lots of cross-country trails here.

When I am in Europe, there are new foods that become my favorite snack. In Sweden and Norway, for instance, I love this type of cheese called geitost. It is strong, sweet and is strong with flavors of caramel and goat’s milk. Yum! Might just have to have some right now…

Our team is staying in 2 different log cabins on the downhill ski area. The women’s team, unfortunately, is the highest cabin partway up this downhill run (shaking my fist at the men’s team)… in fact it is not even accessible by vehicle. My coach got someone from the ski area with a skidoo and sled to haul our entire luggage up to our cabin! I really wish I had a sled because it would be a breeze to fly down the steep hill to breakfast, lunch and dinner! On the up side, it is a beautiful little cabin and each contains its own sauna… not a bad little retreat after all! (Sun would be nice though… my litebook is not giving me a tan!)

In less than a week, I will compete in my first World Cup of the season in Ostersund, Sweden. It will be a 15km Individual competition on Wednesday. Training and preparation for the season is complete and it is time to put our hard work to the test!

I am nervous, anxious, apprehensive… but ready and very excited! I can’t wait to see what is possible in the months ahead! … Therefore, I feel normal!

I will update you all very soon on the results of our first competition week. Of course, all information, results and live feed results can be found on www.biathlonworld.com

“No expectations, no limitations!”

September/October '09

2009-11-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

(Haus Helvetia... our Ramsau home.)

100 days… are you serious? Olympic Winter Games my friends are closer and closer!

As is, the start of our World Cup season. In 2 weeks, I will be departing for Sweden to begin the 2009/2010 World Cup season! We get so immersed in our training that time really does seem to fly by.

Beginning of September we had our World Cup trials in Canmore. Thankfully JP and I were pre-selected and the races were purely for training practice. I won the sprint and pursuit, but finished 3^rd in the mass start competition. All I can say about the mass start, is that I am truly happy to be a winter athlete. It was incredibly hot that afternoon and I came down with heat stroke in the middle of the race. I cannot imagine training in hot climate! Unless… I was submerged in water.

In late September, JP and I attended the Summer Rollerski Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, Germany. It was a very good training race experience as I was skiing very strong despite poor results in the shooting range. I placed 13^th in the sprint with 3 misses and 15^th in the pursuit with 5 misses (49 competitors). Although I did not feel thwarted by the weekend’s results, I do know there are aspects that I need to fine tune before the winter begins. So back to hard training…

From there we drove to Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria for a 2 ½ week ski camp. Ramsau is located approximately 1 hr drive south of Salzburg. It is a beautiful little country town tucked away in the Austrian Alps. Picture…green pastures with cows, horses, ponies and donkeys, quaint mountain houses with overflowing flower boxes, with big beautiful mountains as the backdrop. The Dachstein glacier was… well black. It wasn’t a pretty site. Fortunately, the groomers did a great job making a 7km loop dodging crevasses and the skiing was pretty good. Then it snowed and conditions improved significantly! Our last couple days there the weather turned nasty and the gondola had to shut down due to high speed wind and blizzard conditions. Disappointing because we couldn’t ski, but we did discover a cool hike with a high suspension bridge over a waterfall!

Highlight of our camp was discovering iMovie and the women team's attempt to put together a rad video. I can’t post it just yet… and don’t hold your breath. It wasn’t that exciting!

From Ramsau, we flew home… well not quite. Megan and I had a 3 day stopover in Kitchener, Ontario (just outside of Toronto). Rosanna flew in from Calgary to join us for a sponsorship/fundraising event. The event was hosted by The Gun Club of Cambridge and involved speaking engagements at 3 elementary schools and 2 colleges, a dinner night and a meet and greet day with the sponsors. We had a great time presenting our sport at the elementary schools and I hope the kids also enjoyed it, especially those that had the chance to try the laser shooting system! Hopefully we inspired and motivated another generation!

After a busy promotional weekend, it was time to head west for home...

2009-09-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

“You cannot kindle a fire in any other heart until it is burning within your own.” – Eleanor Doan

In May I thought…280 days… wow.

The significance? The 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games!

Yes that is all. I suppose there will always seem like there is not enough time. That is why everyday is important. Everyday an opportunity! If each training session is accomplished with this attitude, then I will be ready!

I had an excellent break from biathlon in the tropical islands of Maui and Kauai during April. Soaked in the sunrays, surfed (or tried!), swam, snorkeled, and fully embraced beach life!

By the end of April I was back on snow in Whistler at the Olympic venue in Callahan Valley. We had absolutely beautiful sunny days with amazing ski conditions. It was a great start to the training season. Then before I flew home, I spent 3 days in Vancouver at the Olympic Excellence Series, a conference run by the Canadian Olympic Committee for Olympic and potential Olympic athletes from each sport, and the coaches/support staff. It was an excellent weekend filled with inspiriting stories from Ray Zhab, Johann Koss, Sylvie Frechett, Adam van Koeverden and great workshops. I left feeling refreshed, inspired, motivated, and determined. I dream that one day, I too have an amazing story to tell that will capture the next generation of young people to believe!

Later in June I learnt…

Inspiration can come in so many packages. In June during a rest week, I drove to my hometown, Red Deer, and spoke to grades 1-5 at my old elementary school (Ecole Mountview Elementary School). The kids loved my biathlon simulation exercise, (we “raced” a 7.5km sprint race), and my Olympic story. And I loved their sound effects, their excitement, and numerous questions. I was inspiring them, but they were motivating me and driving my passion! The 4 hrs I spent at the school literally flew by! I left feeling as though I had consumed 20 cups of coffee!

In July, Canmore had some wonderfully hot summer days. I made sure to tick off the list of usual fav summer activities: licking ice cream, fruit smoothies, barbeques, dinning al fresco, swimming, sunbathing, and even some rock climbing at the local crags. The annual Canmore Folk Fest in August was another great relaxing summer highlight.

Training has been awesome this year. Besides the usual intervals, strength and roller ski workouts at the Nordic Center, we have also been up to Highwood Pass a lot for long roller ski sessions. Highwood Pass is a long gradual climb in Kananaskis where we often spot grizzly bears during the month of June… an exciting experience when you are moving so slowly uphill on skis! (yes we do all ski with bear spray and pray that that bear is more interested in the berry bushes than a skinny skier…) We had a fun bike and roller skiing camp in British Columbia in June. Definitely had a chance to work on excellent short tan lines. Highlight included Scott wearing his bike shorts up to his butt in order to fix his tan lines… this only made him look like he was wearing a diaper while riding! In July we headed to Whistler for 2 weeks and did solid training up in Callaghan. Highlight was a team building session involving drums and lots of them! We made some amazing rhythms as a team. Well that may be arguable! August was spent training in Canmore, with an emphasis on field tests and preparation to our World Cup trials in September. I got away from small town life and biathlon for a few days to Vancouver in early August. Definitely needed and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! Stopped in Summerland for a swim and it felt like I’d flown way south as it was 35 degrees. So glorious!

As the summer has officially come to an end, the temperature dropping, and the leaves changing, I am reminded of the immediacy of the World Cup season, and more importantly the Olympic Games.

Therefore…

“The only thing that relieves pressure is preparation.” – Tom Kite

2009-09-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

(crowds in Khanty-Mansiysk and along the river in Trondheim)

Whistler World Cup, the test competition for Olympic Winter Games, was the next set of races after World Champs. It was a pretty nice experience for us Canmorons, taking a 1 hr flight, instead of a 9hr to the competition venue! Our team stayed right in the Whistler Village, as did the French and Norwegians. Conditions were good, the venue ready, but definitely it was missing the atmosphere of large crowds in the stadium and along the tracks that many European World Cups encompass. I should hope that at the Olympic games there is a full house!

In terms of results, not a good week for me… I ended up 49^th in the individual (15km) and 48^th in the sprint (7.5km). Our team finished 9^th in the relay. Despite the substandard results, it was a good experience for getting used to the course and area prior to Olympics, and was awesome to have some great friends on the sidelines for support.

That Sunday we flew to Norway. The Trondheim World Cup was next. I had never been to Trondheim before, very exciting, as often the circuit is predictable and repetitive! (Which of course is great for the fans, and also we as competitors get to know the track very well.) Trondheim is a beautiful city located in central Norway where the river Nid flows into the Trondheim fjord. It was lovely to walk or run alongside the river. I had a good sprint shooting 9/10 and placing 20^th but a rough day in the pursuit finishing 47^th.

Monday we were on the move again, this time to Russia, with all teams taking the 5hr charter flights from Trondheim to Khanty-Mansiysk. A usual on the World Cup circuit, always ending with a great finishing party! I placed 24^th in the sprint and 33^rd in the pursuit. Saturday being my last competition, I watched the mass start competitions on Sunday and then intently focused my energy on dancing all night. The World Cup season was over! Maybe not the results I was aspiring for, but it was an improvement from my mono year!

A night of dancing, laughing and good times came to an end, a couple hrs of sleep, and 6am we were back on a charter to return to Munich. Then back to Canada for holiday time!!

2009-09-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

Do not despair, I have not been swallowed by snow demons. I did attend World Championships, and then Whistler, Trondheim and Khanty-Manyisk World Cups. Life seemed to have consumed me and blogs forgotten about. Much apologies!

2009 Pyeongchang World Championships, (South Korea), were a good experience. Pyeongchang is a county in Gangwon province, in the Taebaek Mountains region and about 180km east of Seoul. Everyone, as in athletes, coaches, support staff of all the Nations stayed at a huge apartment building called Green Pia, located right at the base of the YongPyong Ski Resort. This is very different from other World Championships and World Cups because teams are usually scattered in different hotels with maybe 1 or 2 other teams. So it created an athlete atmosphere similar (yet on a much smaller scale!) to that of Olympic Games.

Our competition venue was a short 10 min drive away. Pyeongchang lost bids for 2010 and 2014 Olympics but they are bidding again for 2018. Because of this, they have a World Class biathlon facility, and a Cross Country facility and ski jumping (still in building phase) all in the same area.

Right before the competitions began a number of misfortunes arose. One being a terrible rainstorm destroying the fairly thick layer of manmade snow. The day before the sprint, no one was allowed to ski on the icy remains besides 400m around the stadium. Most athletes chose to go for a run in the rain and dry-fire in the athlete room (as we were also unable to shoot). In Korea, all of our rifles stayed in a locked room at the venue when not in use; therefore, there was a specific room on site for athletes to practice dry shooting. I don't think I have ever been in such a busy dry-fire room with the chaotic noise of click, click, click!

I did not have the results I was hoping for finishing 30th in the Sprint, 24th in the Pursuit and 35th in the Individual. However, we had a good relay placing 9th. The stadium is plagued by a lot of wind gusts and therefore, many athletes (unfortunately including myself) had difficulties in shooting... but really, one cannot have excuses in biathlon. Biathletes have to be able to master difficult conditions in order to succeed!

Leaving Seoul, our team took the opportunity to do a half day tour in Seoul. We visited a beautiful Buddhist temple and museum, a market street, enjoyed a traditional Korea meal... kimchi anyone?, saw a sea of identical high rise apartment buildings, highways with 10 lanes across, crazy candy makers and many other aspects of daily Korean life. The food was definitely an experience, but being adventurous I tried it all. (and yep... still not a fan of kimchi!)

Then we took a long flight back home to Calgary....

After a little over a week in Canmore it was off to Whistler for World Cup #7...

January

2009-02-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

“In sport, the bad news for the present champion is that tomorrow is a new day, when the competition starts again from scratch. But that’s the good news for everyone else.” – Bob Rotella

Today we travelled through the mountains from Bavaria to the SudTirol. This week we are racing in Antholz, Italy. Last week we left our homes in Canmore for World Cup action in Ruhpolding, Germany. Despite feeling jetlagged, the week was fairly successful. Megan came very close to making the pursuit, only 5 seconds out. I missed 2 in standing but ended up 35th in the sprint. And then moved up to 24th in the pursuit. JP, Robin and Scott all hit 18/20 in the pursuit and moved up to 23rd, 29th and 44th respectively.

We started the tour by staying in apartments (switch it up from hotel/full pension living). Us girls found it a treat to be able to cook for ourselves and eat exactly what we feel like. And the guys…. Well.. 1) they were hoping that we would cook 2) consequently found the frozen food section of the supermarket and ate pizza and beer all week. (Ok maybe I am exaggerating…)
Now off to Italy… and the food will be awesome.

We had a good time watching Eurosport every evening (and morning replays) this weekend to watch the Cross Country Skiing and Nordic Combined World Cup in Whistler. Yesterday was especially exciting as Alex Harvey had an awesome sprint to the finish for a third place for the skate team sprint with teammate George Grey. The pair had a great day but it was definitely a fight to that last centimeter.

I was asked by a young biathlete recently to answer a few sport psychology questions for his assignment. Sport psychology has definitely become more prominent and important over the years. The combination of physical exertion and mental focus and clarity for shooting makes biathlon a sport where mental strength is crucial to being successful. Having a goal, being positive, determination… are all important aspects in the road to success. But what does it take in a mass start world cup competition to clean your last standing shooting when you are in lane 2 and the leader beside you just finished shooting with 1 miss? If you shoot clean, you are in first position. To listen to that voice would probably cause you to miss at least 1. Focusing on the now, the present, and your process, is key in such a situation. Like many other sports, quality practice is vital to making your movements automatic in competition. Great preparation is critical to gain confidence and having inner faith that you will shoot clean is crucial to a successful performance.

On that note, I am off to go train and aim for perfection to gain that confidence…..

December/Christmas

2009-02-09T21:33:00.001-08:00

The last week of Hochfilzen I made it into points... finally! Placing 25th in the sprint with 2 misses. My 15km was still not good. I had 5 misses too many.

Slowly I am crawling my way closer to the top again....

We were unable to compete in the relay this week though because Sandra was not able to race due to illness. Very unfortunate because our next chance to race a relay is World Championships in Pyeong Chang, Korea.

Now it's time to head home... Christmas in Canmore. Time to kick back, relax.... and of course prepare for the next set of races and World Championships.

My time at home was awesome. The best part was of course, was spending time with my boyfriend (hopefully I am getting some brownie points for adding this one ;)...). Also was my friend's stagette party... good times ;) ... basically just being able to do things outside of biathlon like sledding, skating, walks with the dog and spending time with friends and family. It wouldn't be a Canadian Christmas without skating, sledding and ... playing hockey!

TTYL....

December World Cups

2009-02-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

(Megan and I on our way to the Christmas market in Ostersund on my birthday.)

There is one more week of competitions left. The first World Cup tour has literally flown by. I feel like I am just starting to get into the groove of racing.

The first two weeks were spent in Ostersund, Sweden. We left Canmore with only a skiff of snow and arrived in a winter wonderland in Ostersund. There was definitely enough snow for the World Cup and…cold enough!

My first competition did not go as planned. I came 77th in the individual with 8 misses. The sprint was better, I missed 2 and came 44th. Unfortunately, a cold flew around the team and I got it right after the Individual competition. So I skipped the pursuit due to still having a sinus cold.

After two weeks of the sun rising at 9 and setting at 3pm, we were all craving sunshine, and good coffee. Austria here we come….
Last week was the Hochfilzen World Cup. Still I struggled in the shooting range and came 52nd in the sprint with 3 misses and 43rd in the pursuit with 6 misses. Sunday was the relay competition. I started and our team ended up 12. Not bad for the first relay of the year but I think we can definitely improve and use less spare rounds!

Despite the disappointment among the women’s team, spirits are still high because the men’s team is rocking house. JP has had a kickass start to his season with a 13th (sprint), 17th (individual) in Ostersund. Another 16th in the sprint last week, he finished it off by pulling into 8th in the pursuit. Finally our team had another award ceremony to celebrate! And it didn’t stop there. Sunday the team came 7th, 3 seconds away from finishing 6th and being part of the team award ceremony. Time for us women to pull it together!

Despite not having the results that I want, I am happy that my health is back and that I am fully recovered from my bout of mononucleosis last year. My ski speed is there, I only need fine tuning in the shooting and the results will take care of themselves.

Due to construction in Pokjluka, Slovenia the World Cup remains in Hochfilzen for another week. Which we are all fine with (we do love Bled but…) it means no packing and unpacking!

Tomorrow is the individual competition, Saturday the sprint and Sunday the relay. My parents have come for the 2 weeks of Hochfilzen World Cup to cheer on our Canadian team. This is their first World Cup experience (besides the ‘06 Olympics) and they are thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere.

Right now I am still very full from lunch hrs ago because we were served kaisershmarren and of course we all ate triple helpings gorging on the Austrian scrambled pancakes. Ahh such trials and tribulations of being on the road….

November

2008-12-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

A wandering Moose at Mt. Shark have a lick of salt.

Currently our mantra is “let it snow, let it snow…” Or at the very least the temperature should drop below zero degrees. Is this the effect of global warming? Very unfortunate. Racing on rollerskis in winter would not be a fun alternative in my opinion. I love the white fluffy cold stuff! I can’t imagine not being able to ski, toboggan, skate, have snowball fights, make snow forts, snowmen and snow angels! So let it snow, I say!

After an excellent camp in France/Austria we have been dry land training waiting for the snow. We also spent a lot of time at the University on the rollerski treadmill. This was excellent intensity training with the advantage of having immediate feedback on technique.

Very recently it snowed in Lake Louise (boo yah!). So we have been doing our ski training there. Obviously word has gotten out how great the conditions are at Moraine Lake road because this weekend was packed with cross country skiers, biathletes, Nordic combined and weekend warriors!

In one week we are off to begin our World Cup tour, beginning in Sweden and finishing in Austria. The first week we are training in Sveg, near Anna Carin’s home turf. The following week is our first World Cup competition in Ostersund, Sweden. Definitely getting excited to race and the gitters are building! After last season, the fire inside of me is burning strong. After Ostersund we travel to Hochfilzen, Austria for 2 weeks of World Cups. Then home for Christmas and preparation for World Cups #5,6 and World Championships.

Other exciting news is the release of our women’s team calendar, Bold Beautiful Biathlon. We have had a busy summer and fall putting this all together and finally now it is on the market! The 5 of us – Sandra Keith, Megan Imrie, Megan Tandy, Rosanna Crawford and myself – put together a black and white tastefully nude 14-month calendar, focusing on promoting the image of a strong athletic body aiming to help fund our Olympic dreams to 2010. If you haven’t checked out our website, please do at www.boldbeautifulbiathlon.com

Fall

2008-10-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hike up the pass from Bessan, Fra.

Warrior yoga pose on Dachstein Glacier, Aut.

Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each is to succeed.
- Corita Kent

Today is a day for tea and a good book. It has been raining all day here in Ramsau am Dachstein. Fortunately, we have an easy day and I have done just that. Drank tea and chilled. Our shooting session this morning was wet….but survivable! Tomorrow the forecast is for snow at 12000m! We are living at 1100m so I think it will be pretty sloppy out there.

We are currently in the middle of a three-week camp. Last week we were in France – Haute-Maurienne – for the Summer Biathlon Roller ski World Championships. It was a good training experience. I skied well, but had too many mistakes in shooting and didn’t have the results that I was hoping for (finished 13th in the sprint and pursuit). However, it is only September and I know that I am not race ready quite yet. I much prefer winter racing! My teammate Megan Tandy had a great pursuit and finished 3rd in the junior category. Jean Phillip and Marco Bedard had a great sprint finishing 5th and 8th respectively.

After our Pursuit race, we all went on a hike up the valley from the Biathlon site. Was a beautiful area, with a very quaint village of stone houses, and inaccessible to vehicles. The cows grazing in the area decided to stampede down the hill along with boys. Marco got an excellent video footage on his camera. Practically their own running of the bulls…

Now we are on a 2-week camp in Ramsau for glacier skiing on Dachstein (Austria). The ski conditions are excellent this year. Our team here this year consists of 4 women, and 3 men, with coaches Geret Coyne and Jean Paquet. So far highlights include: excessive cheese eating and table wine drinking in France, subsequently interpretive dancing and singing to the Mamma Mia soundtrack in our room, hysterical girl time watching the Sex in the City movie, and overzealous amounts of Milka bars bought once entering the land of chocolate (aka Austria). I suppose skiing this week, could also be thought of as a major highlight, as the last time we were on skis was in Whistler during May. It is awesome to be on skis again!

Next week will be a very busy week on the approximately 8km groomed track on the glacier, as more World Cup teams will be arriving on Sunday. Last year we stayed at a hotel right at the gondola station (1700m), which is great for skiing. However, this year we are staying down by the roller ski track (1100m), which is excellent for afternoon workouts. We get up from our nap and ski 400m to the range! Plus, the owner of our apartment bakes us yummy cakes! Today the occasion was “bad weather” cake!

On the list of activities this week (besides training of course) involve hitting up the forest park which now has a luge looking roller coaster, baking cookies, facebook stalking and playing pranks on the boys. I think it should be a good week ;)

Well Zina from the block is out. Training time….

Summer

2008-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

at CMH lodge (Rosanna, me, Megan) and my dog Zeak

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." - Ghandi

Fall is in the air! And consuming our minds, as we are now only 3 months away from the start of the season! Not sure what happened to summer. I think we had a few hot days!

Training sessions on the rollerski treadmill at the U of C went very well. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of my lovely self on it. Next time….

We spent the summer training in Canmore, with a 3 day camp to Revelstoke in August. It was gorgeously hot there! I drove out a day early and went sport climbing with my Dad, which was wicked. The climbing in the area is awesome and so much of it is practically right outside downtown. Too bad that town is in the middle of nowhere! Our camp was short but a good blast of fun. We road biked from Revelstoke to CMH. And spent the night at the heli lodge. What a great time we enjoyed there upon arrival… bathing in the sun on the dock (the lake was rather glacier cold), extreme croquet, volleyball, awesome food and an open bar. Oh and an indoor climbing gym. But by the time I got to the climbing, the 5 hrs of biking that day combined with extreme croquet had drained my energy! The next day we roller skied up Mt. Revelstoke. A very, very long climb! The 3rd day we biked from Lake Louise to our respective homes. A dedication goes out to the many enjoyed coffees, cakes, muffins, and sandwiches consumed from the Modern Bakeshop and Café. Delicious!

Early September found us doing the North American Biathlon Roller ski Championships in Canmore. This was also World Cup trials for the 3rd spot for the first World Cup tour. I attended 2 out of 3 of the competitions. I came 1st in the Individual and 2nd in the Pursuit (I started last due to not starting the Sprint the day before). Currently, our World Cup team consists of Sandra Keith, Megan Imrie, and myself (one more women will attend after 2nd IBU competition), and Robin Clegg, Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, Scott Perras (potentially one more man attending).

As the seasons changed, I decided to refresh my living space. A little makeover as I enter a new chapter in my life. I painted my room a deep purple, and love it!
I’m off to drink tea and lounge in the marvelous purple….

2008-07-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Inukshuk at the 2010 Olympic site in Callaghan

“The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”
-Benjamin Disraeli

Finally the summer heat has come to Canmore! Yeahhh! Training has been going very well for my team and me. Our team is made up of 5 girls this year, which has been fabulous so far mostly because of the copious amount of girl talk that goes on. I think our coach is learning to turn a deaf ear to our conversations and fits of giggles. Or maybe he is secretly preparing himself for the maturing of his two young daughters in the years to come!

Fortunately, my setback of a disc protrusion in my low back hasn’t affected my training, as I have still been able to do lots of roller skiing, biking and strength. And now I am almost 100% recovered. That is the course of being an athlete, various setbacks that one must deal with and overcome! I believe that there are reasons for everything in life. And so which each setback there is an opportunity to learn, and grow and thus be stronger both physically and mentally. So if nothing else, I have worked very diligently on my inner core muscles this spring! The only thing that has made me a bit unhappy is not being able to do regular yoga practice because of all the flexion involved in yoga. I did go to one of our athlete yoga classes this week though and just totally modified it to my own abilities…ie. zero flexion…But it was still enjoyable!

In the beginning of June, we were able to get some more ski days in up in the meadows at Sunshine Village. The downhill resort is closed middle of May but in the meadows there is still a substantial amount of snow during June. After a cool clear night the crust skiing can be amazing. We also had a loop groomed for us through the meadow. We have also spent many hours roller skiing up Highwood Pass in Kananaskis. Almost every day that we have gone there, we have seen a Grizzly bear. Today we saw 2! On one occasion there was a 2yr old Grizzly walking right beside the road. Luckily, some tourists let us sit on the tailgate of their truck so that we could drive past the bear. He was minding his own business but it was probably better not to mind his!

A few days ago we did a time trial up Mt. Norquay. It is a 5.5 km winding uphill road to the downhill ski resort just outside of Banff and makes a great climb for a training race. I successfully destroyed my time from last year! After a few hurdles this past year it is excellent to see that I am right on track for the upcoming season.

Besides the rigor of my training schedule, I have had moments to have some fun outside of biathlon! Last week I had a rest week and spent a couple days in Calgary with friends and then went off to my hometown Red Deer for a wedding. The Stampede started last Friday so Calgary has been totally crazy. For those of you not familiar with the Calgary Stampede….it holds the saying “the greatest outdoor show on Earth!” I haven’t had the opportunity to partake in the Stampede festivities this year. But probably the main highlights include the midway rides, Stampede rodeo action, the Chuckwagon races, outdoor concerts (rock and country), and lots of cowboy hats and boots! Oh and of course pub crawls are a very big part of the Stampede experience!

Now we have another few hard weeks of training before a break. This month we will be spending quite a bit of time in Calgary on the roller ski/speed skating treadmill. Not quite as exciting as seeing our Grizzly bear friends up at Highwood!

Happy summer trails!

Sandra and I skiing at Sunshine meadows

May Camp

2008-05-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new website!
Every month (or hopefully!) less, I will be posting new updates to keep you informed of what I’m up to during the training and racing seasons. Feel free to email me anytime! I will do my best to reply as soon as possible.

The website is up in perfect timing for the start of our training season. We are starting our training year right now in the Callaghan Valley, where the 2010 Olympic site for Nordic sports is situated. I am very excited to be training again and feeling 100% ready to go. Last year, I had an excellent summer training year until I became sick with mononucleosis in October. Unfortunately, this affected my whole racing season. And although I was healthy and able to race at World Championship and the last 3 World Cups, I was not in very good shape in skiing, and my shooting scores were also affected. Nevertheless, after taking 8 weeks completely off in the fall, I was incredibly ecstatic to even be able to race. It was an extremely difficult time for me but I took it as an opportunity and learned a lot.

During April, I went on a backcountry ski trip for a week in Rogers Pass with some cross country skiers, Chandra Crawford, Devon Kershaw, Phil Widmir and 8 more great friends. We had a terrific time. Highlights include: having our own dance party on the benches in our little cabin, speed card tournaments, cheese fondue, building a snow cave to wait out the whiteout, and oh of course, summit-ting the nearby peaks and skiing the decent pow down. I also made it out to the local ski hills for some downhill action the weeks after. My last week off, Canmore was a –10 blizzardy crazy place, so I booked it to Ottawa to visit a good friend and bathed in the sun. The weekend took us to Montreal to take on the great shopping, cafes and nightlife…basically a very girly week!

Now the new training season is upon us, and it is time to prepare once again for the 2008/09 World Cups and the 2009 World Championships in Korea. With 20 months left before the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, we began the year with a camp in Whistler. Because the Callaghan has a significant amount of precipitation, we are actually able to ski here every morning! I started the month training here with the National Cross Country team and then the following week with the National Biathlon team. A few other Nordic World Cup teams/athletes have also come out to check out the site this spring such as the Swedish, Norwegians and Americans. While with the Cross Country team, I met Manuela Henkel (German cross country skier, and sister of biathlete Andrea Henkel) who was also here training. This season, all the Olympic venues in Vancouver/Whistler will be holding World Cups in preparation for 2010. The 2009 Whistler Biathlon World Cup will be held in the first week of March.

Unfortunately, at the moment I’ve had another setback in my training this spring. I have a disc protrusion in my low back and have to do lots of rehab here. Fortunately though, skiing is fine (except for double poling) so I can basically do most of my regular training. In the afternoons here I am out swimming or in the weight room.

The Nordic site is a 30min drive away from the Whistler village (home of 1 of the Olympic athletes village) and will hold Cross Country skiing, Biathlon, Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping. Downtown Whistler is a nice walking street with some great shops, après ski bars and patios, café’s, restaurants, and a few pumping nightclubs. Oh and I can’t forget the really cool, retro second hand store where you can find neon colored 1 piece ski suits, MC Hammer pants and tie dye shirts! Definitely on my hit list of shopping items for the next retro ski party!

I also attended a weekend conference for Olympic athletes here in Whistler. It was a wicked weekend that inspired us all to be the best that we can be in 2010 and beyond. Some awesome Canadian Olympic medallists spoke including, Natalie Lampart, Brain Orser, David Pelletier, Catriona Le May Doan, Beckie Scott, and Dan Jansen (American Speedskater, Gold medallist ’94). Their words definitely inspired and motivated me to make the most of the next 20 months and prepare for 2010. I left having made many new friends and above all, totally ready to take on the world!

My training time in Whistler is almost over. Which is good, because the snow basically disappeared this past weekend in Callaghan! I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the area and the Nordic site. And definitely excited to return for more training and the World Cup this season.

Well, I’ll be following my own Inuckshuk back to training in Canmore, as I hit the road back there this weekend!
Hasta Luego Whistler!

“We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let our dreams die, but others nourish and protect them, nurse them through bad days till they bring them to sunshine and light.”
- Woodrow

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2008-05-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

We hope that everyone had a splendid and joyful Christmas and holiday time! And yes I am still alive, New Year.s resolution is to actually keep my website updated and full of information for all of you out there ;) The World Cup season is half over, but the World Championships are still a couple of weeks away. I am back in action and competed in the World Cup in Antholz, Italy last week. I was sick with mononucleosis during October, and November. Finally in the beginning of December, I was able to start some activity and slowly begin to train. It felt like an eternity but in the big scheme of things it wasn.t that long. There is no denying that it was a difficult time for me; however, there were endless opportunities for me to take advantage of as well. At a time of the year when skiers are incredibly busy gearing up for the racing season, I took a breather, and chilled out! My back had a chance to heal, and I had plenty of spare time for my favorite biathlon activity . dryfiring (not)! But I did take advantage of this extra time and consciously worked on shooting drills. When I wasn.t at the range, I became a .Sex in the City. expert, a social butterfly on the phone or on facebook, and I even learnt a few new skills such as knitting! It was also an opportunity for honing visual and mental skills, and yoga practice. And also, a chance to give back some time to the biathlon community. Before I left for Europe, I was the guest speaker at a Alberta Biathlon Club dinner in Canmore for the presentation of the Gernot Kostera Foundation. Although I took a public speaking workshop years ago, this was my first public speaking event. Surprisingly, it went rather well! I discovered that similarly to a competition, public speaking can be a piece of cake if entered with the right preparation, planning and, of course, confidence. Yes, time almost flew by! I flew into Germany on Thursday, January 10th joining the team in Ruhpolding, where they were competing in the 5th World Cup. It was very exciting to watch the competitions, however, I MUCH prefer racing them! So I was very anxious to be part of the show during Antholz WC last week. For me, that WC race was purely for racing experience and my preparation for World Championships in Ostersund, Sweden. I needed to go through the motion of racing again if I am to feel ready to challenge the field for WCHS and the last World Cups of the season. With the right preparation, the training and speed work that I lost while I was sick, will return.eventually! Now, we have one more week of preparation for WCHS in Hochfilzen, before flying to Sweden on the 4th. So until Sweden! And my favorite quote of the past few months. .NEVER GIVE UP . A setback is a setup for a comeback.. Cheers, Zina The schedule for the WCHS: 2008 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Östersund (SWE) Date Start Time Competition Saturday 09.02.200 8 11.00h Sprint Women 14.15h Sprint Men Sunday 10.02.2008 12.00h Pursuit Women 14.15h Pursuit Men Tuesday 12.02.2008 14.15h Mixed Relay Wednesday 13.02.2008 17.15h Individual Women Thursday 14.02.2008 17.15h Individual Men Saturday 16.02.2008 12.00h Relay Men 15.00h Mass Start Women Sunday 17.02.2008 12.00h Mass Start Men 14.30h Relay Women